Japan’s new Party of Hope releases right-wing populist election platform
By
Ben McGrath
9 October 2017
Japan’s new right-wing Party of Hope (Kibō no Tō) on Friday released its platform for the October 22 general election. The party led by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike is attempting to obscure the pro-war, anti-working class agenda it shares with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) by making vague populist pledges it has no intention of keeping. Official campaigning begins Tuesday.
The platform includes “nine pillars” and “twelve zeros” as well as an economic policy dubbed “Yurinomics,” a play on Koike’s given name and the term “Abenomics,” Abe’s signature domestic policy. Two of the pillars call for revising Article 9 of the constitution, the so-called pacifist clause, and strengthening the military.
This entails altering Article 9 to formally recognize the Self-Defense Forces (SDF), Japan’s military, and to do away with constraints on waging war overseas. “We will squarely face the Constitution itself and call for discussions in the Diet’s (Japan’s parliament) Constitution commissions,” Koike stated Friday. “We will fulfill the role of creating strong momentum toward constitutional revision.”
Koike also expressed support for the US-Japan Security Treaty and the relocation of the US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, from the city of Ginowan to Henoko. Residents of the prefecture have long opposed US bases due to brutal crimes committed by US soldiers, such as the rape and murder of a 20-year-old woman last year, and opposition to war more broadly. US bases on Okinawa would play a key role in any conflict with China or North Korea.
The Party of Hope made its pro-war agenda…